After so many leaks of foldable Samsung or Microsoft phones that may or may not become tablets, today we find something similar from LG. This new type of folding phone is detailed in the patents below and we actually have two versions of it.
One of the LG patents was filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization and it shows a folding hybrid, that’s both tablet and phone. It describes the unit as a “Mobile phone with a flexible display, which can be folded in half”. It was filed back in July 2017 and published on January 12th 2018. The first version of the machine is a foldable phone, that features the camera on the back panel.
Once it’s folded, the device can display info like the time, date and weather on the front screen. The second version is pretty similar, except for the fact that when the device is folded, the rear cover is pushed to one side and reveals a transparent section on the front right hand side.
The sidebar bit can be used to show the time and notifications. The rear of the device also integrates a camera module. The solid lines in the illustration are supposed to show “claimed features” and the broken ones show what the rest of the device is supposed to look like.
The dotted lines in the design patent aren’t covered by said patent. It seems like a pretty elegant design this one, but still I find it bulky… The transparent piece is an innovation compared to the Microsoft and Samsung foldables.
